Housing and cardiometabolic risk among older renters and homeowners

Abstract

Scholars consistently find that renters have poorer health outcomes when compared with homeowners. Health disparities between renters and homeowners likely widen over the life course, yet few studies have examined this link among older adults, and the connection is not fully understood. Homeowners’ relative socio-economic advantage may explain their better health; renters also more commonly experience adverse housing conditions and financial challenges, both of which can harm health. In this paper, we analyse the extent to which socio-economic advantage, housing conditions, and financial strain explain the relationship between homeownership and health among adults over age 50, using Health and Retirement Study 2010/2012 data to assess cardiometabolic risk (CMR) levels using biomarkers for inflammation, cardiovascular health, and metabolic function. We find that people living with poor housing conditions and financial strain have higher CMR levels, even taking socio-economic advantage into account. This analysis sheds light on the housing-related health challenges of older adults, especially older renters.

Keywords:

• Homeownership
• older adults
• housing affordability
• housing conditions
• health
• cardiometabolic risk

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Support for this analysis was provided by the National Institute on Aging [P30 AG17265].

Notes on contributors

Sarah Mawhorter

Sarah Mawhorter, PhD, MPL, is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Southern California Leonard Davis School of Gerontology in the USC/UCLA Center on Biodemography and Population Health. She studies how younger and older adults navigate expensive housing markets, and the consequences for their health and well-being. She combines methods from demography, sociology, economics, and geography to examine the demographic processes and planning practices which shape urban housing opportunities.

Eileen M. Crimmins

Eileen M. Crimmins, PhD, is a University Professor and the AARP Chair in Gerontology at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is the co-director of the USC/UCLA Center on Biodemography and Population Health, a Demography of Aging Center supported by the U.S. National Institute on Aging. She is also the co-director of the Multidisciplinary Training in Gerontology Program and the NIA-sponsored Network on Biological Risk. Crimmins is a co-investigator of the Health and Retirement Study. Much of Crimmins’ research has focused on changes over time in health and mortality. Crimmins has been instrumental in organizing and promoting the recent integration of the measurement of biological indicators in large population surveys. She has served as co-chair of a Committee for the National Academy of Sciences to address why life expectancy in the USA is falling so far behind that of other countries. She has recently co-edited several books with a focus on international ageing, mortality, and health expectancy. She has received the Kleemeier Award for Research from the Gerontological Society of America.

Jennifer A. Ailshire

Jennifer A. Ailshire, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Gerontology and Sociology and Assistant Dean of International Programs and Global Initiatives at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. Her research addresses questions that lie at the intersections of social stratification, urban sociology, and the sociology of health and ageing. In particular, her research focuses on the importance of the neighbourhood environment and social relationships in determining health over the life course. A consistent theme throughout her work is an interest in gender, socio-economic, racial, and ethnic inequality in health. Current projects include research on the links between air pollution and health in older adults, neighbourhood determinants of racial and ethnic health disparities, and social factors associated with poor sleep.